Any Vote On Berlin Police Station Months Away

BERLIN — Any petition drive to place the proposed new $21 million police station on a referendum ballot should begin in mid-September at the earliest, council minority leader David Evans said Thursday.

The wait is necessary because no petition drive can begin until the council decides on a bonding proposal for the project. A hearing on that issue is set for Sept. 16.

Once the council approves a resolution on the sale of bonds to raise money for the station, the clock for a referendum begins ticking, Evans said. After council action, anyone seeking to get the issue before voters in a referendum, a townwide ballot, has 14 days to collect and file enough signatures, he said.

By charter, a petition would need to be signed by at least 3 percent of all registered voters in town, according to Betty Tedeschi, said Republican registrar of voters. That means a successful petition must have at least 377 valid signatures, she said.

"Petitioners should get more than the minimum because all signatures are checked" to make sure the signer is eligible for consideration, she said. Signatures of people who are not registered voters or who are registered to vote in another community would not be valid, she said.

The new station, as now planned, would be built on town-owned property at 903-913 Farmington Ave. It would give police their first standalone headquarters; the police station is now in the bottom level of the Town Hall complex, a 40-year-old space the department outgrew decades ago.

Since 1995, five studies have recommended better space for the department.

On Tuesday, the council proposed a July 29 hearing on the new station and to start the bonding documents. But Republicans blocked that request and moved the hearing date to Sept. 16, and also said a referendum should be held on the proposal because of its expense and impact on taxpayers.

"I asked to move the date from July to Sept. 16 because the summer is such a sleepy time with many people on vacation and not around for any hearing," Evans said Thursday. "As for a referendum petition, I can't say if one will be circulated by us or not. There has been no decision yet."